VAPT

VAPT stands for Vulnerability Assessment & Penetration Testing. It is a security testing to
identify security vulnerabilities in an application, network, endpoint, and cloud. Both the
Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing have unique strengths and are often
collectively done to achieve complete analysis. Vulnerability Assessment scans the digital
assets and notifies organizations about pre-existing flaws. Penetration test exploits the
vulnerabilities in the system & determines the security gaps.

Vulnerability Assessment
A vulnerability assessment (or vulnerability scan) is an information security process used to
identify weaknesses or vulnerabilities in a computer system or network. The purpose of a
vulnerability assessment is to determine the system’s vulnerabilities and help the system
operator correct them.
The assessment can be performed manually or automatically. If performed manually, the
tester will follow an assessment procedure to identify the vulnerabilities. If the manual
assessment is not sufficient or time-consuming, then an automated vulnerability assessment
can be used.

Penetration Testing
A penetration test (or pen test) is an authorized simulated attack on a computer system
performed to evaluate the system’s security. It can be described as a form of “security audit”
but often implies a level of aggressiveness beyond simple audit procedures.
Penetration tests are performed with the consent and knowledge of the owner of the system.
They are typically performed to find security weaknesses before criminals, or unethical
hackers find and exploit them.
Types Of VAPT
1. Network Penetration Testing
Network penetration testing is a security audit by which you check the security of a
network. It is one of the most effective ways to detect and prevent potential and
actual cyber-attacks and hacks and protect your sensitive data and information that
you store and transfer across the network. The idea is to simulate a cyber-attack and
try to break into the system.
2. Web Application Penetration Testing
Web application penetration testing is a process that is used for analyzing the cyber
security of a website. It is used to find out the vulnerabilities of the website or its web
applications. It can be used for a white hat or black hat purposes.
The web application penetration testing is done to find out the loopholes of the
website before malicious hackers can find it. Penetration testing is generally done to
find out the security weaknesses of the website, which are then reported to the
concerned team.
3. Mobile Penetration Testing
Mobile penetration testing is a process of testing a mobile application for security
vulnerabilities. This process is done to ensure that the applications are not leaking
confidential information to the third party. It is a crucial step for a mobile application
as a single minor flaw in the system can cost a company a lot of revenue.
Mobile application penetration includes testing all kinds of mobile applications such
as:
 Android Penetration Testing for Android applications
 iOS Penetration Testing for iOS applications
 Hybrid applications
4. API Penetration Testing
API penetration testing is a vital part of any company’s security infrastructure. As a
company’s data and infrastructure becomes increasingly exposed to the internet, the
threat of a breach is a more significant concern than ever before. But more than just
a single point of failure, APIs are a substantial risk to the integrity of a company’s
internal infrastructure.
Most companies have a variety of APIs that allow internal tools, data, and
infrastructure to be used by employees and third-party applications. In the wrong
hands, these APIs can be used to spread malware, steal data, and manipulate an
organization’s infrastructure from the inside.
An API penetration test is a perfect way to assess the security of your API, which is
increasingly becoming a tempting target for cyber attackers.
5. Cloud Penetration Testing
Cloud penetration testing is a type of security testing that analyzes a cloud computing
environment for vulnerabilities that hackers could exploit.
Cloud penetration testing is used to test the security of cloud computing
environments and determine if a cloud provider’s security measures and controls can
resist attacks. These tests should be performed before a company moves
applications and data to the cloud and on an ongoing basis as part of a cloud
provider’s security maintenance.
A third-party security firm will likely perform a cloud penetration test as part of a
company’s cloud infrastructure security assessment.
Benefits of VAPT
Enterprise system security is a significant concern for every company. This is because no
business can afford a security breach that could cause a financial loss or a tarnished
reputation. There are two ways to address a security vulnerability: a vulnerability
assessment and penetration testing.
Benefits of VAPT are as follows:
 Uncover security vulnerability.
 Avoid data breaches.
 Protect customer data and trust.
 Maintain the reputation of the company.
 Achieve compliance.
 Detailed VAPT reports.

Tools used in VAPT

1. Nessus
Nessus is an open-source network vulnerability scanner that uses the Common
Vulnerabilities and Exposures architecture for easy cross-linking between compliant
security tools. In fact, Nessus is one of the many vulnerability scanners used during
vulnerability assessments and penetration testing engagements, including malicious
attacks. Nessus is a tool that checks computers to find vulnerabilities that hackers
COULD exploit.
2. Metasploit
Metasploit is the world’s leading open-source penetrating framework used by security
engineers as a penetration testing system and a development platform that allows to
create security tools and exploits. The framework makes hacking simple for both
attackers and defenders.
A Metasploit penetration test begins with the information gathering phase, wherein
Metasploit integrates with various reconnaissance tools like Nmap, SNMP scanning,
and Windows patch enumeration, and Nessus to find the vulnerable spot in your
system. Once the weakness is identified, choose an exploit and payload to penetrate
the chink in the armor. If the exploit is successful, the payload gets executed at the
target, and the user gets a shell to interact with the payload. One of the most popular
payloads to attack Windows systems is Meterpreter – an in-memory-only interactive
shell. Once on the target machine, Metasploit offers various exploitation tools for
privilege escalation, packet sniffing, pass the hash, keyloggers, screen capture, plus
pivoting tools. Users can also set up a persistent backdoor if the target machine gets
rebooted.
3. Nmap
Nmap is short for Network Mapper. It is an open-source Linux command-line tool that
is used to scan IP addresses and ports in a network and to detect installed
applications.
Nmap allows network admins to find which devices are running on their network,
discover open ports and services, and detect vulnerabilities.
4. Burp Suite
Burp Suite is an integrated platform for performing security testing of web
applications. Its various tools work seamlessly together to support the entire testing
process, from initial mapping and analysis of an application’s attack surface, through
to finding and exploiting security vulnerabilities.
Burp gives you full control, letting you combine advanced manual techniques with
state-of-the-art automation, to make your work faster, more effective, and more fun.

VAPT Report
A VAPT Testing report is a comprehensive examination of the vulnerabilities found
during the security test. It describes the weaknesses, the danger they provide, and
possible fixes. The Pentest Report includes detailed vulnerability analysis, as well as
a POC (Proof of Concept) and remediation to address the most critical vulnerabilities.
A good penetration test report will also include a score for each detected vulnerability
as well as the extent to which it may impact your application/website.